Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1505313.015 - United States Postal Service

Inspection Information - Office: Madison Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 2:25 p.m. on November 30, 2020, an employee working as a postal clerk for the United States Postal Service was walking to door #31 inside the PD&C loading dock. The employee was walking alone preparing to receive a trailer that arrived at the dock. The dock area is long and narrow measuring approximately 50 feet wide and about 400 feet long. The employee had started at a desk by the facility wall, walking along the dock doors, in close proximity to the doors. There was no other clear path to the door due to pallets of mail filled the staging area. A coworker operating a Toyota LP forklift was exiting a trailer backwards at dock door #30. The coworker looked in the direction of travel and had the back-up beeper sounding. The employee saw the coworker exiting the trailer and called out "stop, wait". The coworker did not hear or see the employee and struck her. The employee amputated an unspecified number of toes and fractured her hip, requiring hospitalization.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Backing Up, Foot, Forklift, Hip, Industrial Truck, Instantaneous amputation, Material Handling, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Motor Vehicle, PIV, Postal Worker, Powered Industrial Vehicle, Struck By, Toe, Traumatic Amputation, Unsafe Position, Walking Surface, Warehouse, Warehouse Aisle, Work Surface